Everything was firing on all cylinders for Swix this game. Stanas captured the middle keep early but retreated, mistakenly thinking peacetime was still active(Partly due to my call). Swix seized the opportunity, fortified the keep with crossbows and pikes, and positioned trebs to prevent a comeback. Stanas struggled to retake it due to his full armory and delayed second armory. Meanwhile, Swix repeatedly destroyed Ahmed's walls, preventing his crossbows from reaching the towers. Swix maintained relentless pressure and secured the win.
Great tournament game between Milan, Ahmed, and aemwu. Milan opened with a very fast economy, going from apples quickly into bakeries, while Ahmed followed a similar route and aemwu went for very early military production after mostly starting with apple farms.
Even though Milan looked strongest economically early on, aemwu was first to secure the middle keep and held it for a large portion of the game. Milan and Ahmed eventually built up enough troops, siege, crossbows, and archers from the towers to push him off, with Ahmed then taking control and holding the King of the Hill keep for long stretches.
Milan had a few moments where he took the middle, but he could not maintain it long enough, likely because he was completely new to the map. Near the end, Ahmed and aemwu were both around 8,000 points remaining, but after Ahmed lagged out again, Milan continued and seemed to be building late-game momentum before the timer ran out and aemwu secured the win.